Landing device for aeroplanes



A. C. WARREN. LANDING DEVICE FOR AEROPLANES. APPLICATION FILED JULY 30.1919.

1,849,242. Patented Aug. 10,1920.

mmwoa. Alanson C Warren UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALANSON C. WARREN, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO VIOLET MAY WARREN, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA.

LANDING DEVICE FOR AEBOPLAN ES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALANSON C. WARREN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stockton, county of San Joaquin, State 0' California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Landing Devices for Aeroplanes; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in aeroplanes, and particularly to a device to be installed thereon to facilitate landing after a flight.

As at resent constructed, heavier-thanair machlnes cannot come to earth gently as their wing surface is not sufiicient to permit this.

Consequently they must come down at an angle while still having considerable momentum in order to prevent taking a sudden 'dro which would wreck the machine.

he principal object of my invention, therefore, is to provide an auxiliary or additional wing surface which will only be brought into play when making a landing, or in the event of accident to the motor while in the air.

A further object of the invention 15 to provide a wing surface for the purpose which will normally be furled or rolled up and so will not be a detriment to the operation and speed of the aeroplane while flyinother object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposes for which it is designed.

These ob ects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claim.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding partsdn the several views.

Figure 1 isa perspective view of an aeroplane showing my improved structure incorporated therein and in operative position.

Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on a line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing a chain driving mechanism for my attachment.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the numeral 1 denotes the fuselage of the aeroplane, of any desired type, to which are preferably mounted biplane structures 2 and 3 in tandem, suitably spaced apart.

The upper win s 4 and 5 are connected together by suitab e stringers 6.

It is directly under the stringers and between the wings 4 and 5 that I preferably position my auxiliary wing or curtain, there belng preferably two of the same, but operable in unison by a common mechanism.

TlllS structure comprises a pair of shafts 7 and 7 on which are rollers 8 and 8 respectively extending lengthwise of and ad'acent the adjacent edges of the wings 4 ant 5 respectively.

The curtains 9 are adapted to wind up on the forward roller 8, one edge of the curtains being secured thereto, while strips 10 extend at intervals from the free edges of the curtains to and around the other roller 8", the strips 10 being unwound from their roller when the curtains 9 are wound up and vice versa.

A suitable chain and sprocket mechanism 11 connects the shafts 7 and 7 in fixed operative relation, while another chain drive mechanism 12 extends from one of said rollers to any suitable operative means, not shown, but preferably independent of the engine of the aeroplane, so that when the engine is stopped, whether intentionally or by accident, my curtain structure may be brought into effective operation.

Under normal flying conditions, the curtains 9 are wound up on their roller 8, thus keeping the space between the wings 4 and 5 open, but when descending, the curtain is unwound from its roller and stretches across the s ace between the said wings, thus adding considerably to the wing surface of the aeroplane, and permitting it to be brought to earth much more gently than is possible under present conditions.

From the fore oing description it will be readily seen that have roduced such a device as substantially ful ls the object of the invention as set forth herein.

While this s ecification sets forth in detail the present an preferred construction of the device still in practive such deviations from such details may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claim. 6 Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: s

In an aeroplane having biplanes. arranged in tandem, rigid stringers at spaced inter- 10 vals connecting the up er wi of said hiplanes, and a flexib e curtain structure ada ted to be rolled up positioned between sai upper wings directly under the stringers, w ereby the curtain is braced against air pressure thereunder when in use. 15 In testimonfy whereof I afiix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

ALANSON O. WARREN. Witnesses VERADINE WARNER, F RANK H. CARTER. 

